Chapter Text
There were exactly three constants in the Japanese hero industry... Villains would always monologue, the media would always overreact, and Midoriya Izuku would somehow be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The lecture hall at Endeavor Agency was silent.
Thirty two interns sat with notebooks open as the instructor advanced to the next slide.
A picture appeared on the projector... A teenage boy with messy green curls, wide emerald eyes and a freckled face.
Someone in the back raised a hand.
"Is he a villain?"
The instructor sighed.
"No."
"A vigilante?"
"No."
"A witness under protection?"
"No."
"All Might's secret love child?"
"...No."
The instructor pinched the bridge of his nose.
"This... is Midoriya Izuku."
A dozen students waited for the explanation. Instead, the instructor clicked the remote. The next slide displayed an absurd list.
Confirmed Villain Encounters: 4716
"..."
"..."
"...What?"
A ripple spread through the room.
"That's fake," one student laughed.
"I wish..."
The next slide had a list of all the major villain encounters... A mugging at age four. A hostage situation and a bank robbery at five. A villain turf war, a gas attack, a train hijacking...
"What?"
"It keeps going!"
The slide kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.
"That's impossible," someone whispered.
"It should be," The instructor folded his arms. "He has averaged approximately one villain incident every twenty six hours over the last fourteen years.
"..."
"..."
One intern frowned.
"So he's cursed?"
"We've investigated."
"A villain target?"
"No."
"Secret government experiment?"
"No."
"Quirk?"
"He doesn't have one."
The room grew even quieter.
"...Then why?"
The instructor answered with complete seriousness.
"We don't know."
At UA High School, Class 1A was undergoing a similar lesson.
Present Mic turned on the projector and cheerfully exclaimed, "QUIZ TIME!"
The class collectively groaned.
"What do you do if you see this civilian?" He dramatically pointed at the photo.
"Nothing?" Kaminari said.
"Wrong!"
"Escort him somewhere?" Sero answered.
"Wrong again!"
Iida raised his hand.
"Immediately alert nearby heroes because statistically speaking a villain attack is imminent."
Present Mic grinned.
"CORRECT!"
Half the classroom blinked.
"You're kidding," Kaminari laughed.
"We're not," Aizawa, half asleep in his sleeping bag, finally spoke.
The laughter died instantly.
"If Midoriya Izuku is within visual range..." He stared at the class. "...you should assume criminal activity will occur within the next hour."
"..."
"..."
"...Seriously?"
"Thirty seven minutes."
"What?"
"The average."
Every hero school in Japan had a similar lecture. Officially, the Commission called it 'Civilian Pattern Recognition'. Heroes themselves called it something much simpler... 'The Green GPS'.
As in-
"Hey, Midoriya's at the train station."
"Copy that. Send patrols."
It worked disturbingly well.
One patrol captain had once joked, "If I ever need overtime pay, I'll just follow that kid around."
Three robberies, a nomu attack and an illegal quirk auction all happened before lunch. He stopped making jokes after that.
Izuku knew absolutely none of this.
He adjusted the strap of his grocery bag as he walked home. The convenience store had been unusually peaceful today.
He looked up.
"..."
There was smoke rising two streets away.
"...Again?" Izuku sighed.
His phone buzzed. He picked it up.
"Honey, are you okay?" His mother's voice emerged from the phone.
Izuku smiled weakly.
"I'm fine, Mom."
"You're not near the explosion, are you?"
He looked towards the massive pillar of black smoke.
"...Define 'near'."
Pro Hero Kamui Woods landed beside the burning warehouse. Police were already evacuating the civilians.
A sidekick approached.
"Sir!"
"What happened?"
"Unknown villain attack."
"Casualties?"
"None."
"Hostages?"
"...None."
Kamui frowned.
"Then how did we know to mobilize this quickly?"
"...Midoriya Izuku was buying ramen across the street."
"Ah," Kamui nodded. It was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Inside the warehouse, the villains were panicking at the sound of sirens.
"Already?" one muttered.
"What the hell?!" another exclaimed.
The villain leader slammed a crate shut.
"Hurry!"
The gang scrambled. One of the criminals peeked through the broken window.
"...Boss?"
"What?"
"...The Green Kid's outside."
The room froze. One thug vent pale.
"...No."
"..."
"...It can't be!"
Another looked outside.
"...It's him," he confirmed.
There was a brief silence. Then chaos erupted.
"WE'VE BEEN MADE!"
"RUN!"
"The heroes are here!"
"They always show up when he's around!"
"It was a trap!"
"It wasn't a trap!"
"THEN WHY IS HE HERE?!"
Izuku blinked as dozens of masked criminals suddenly burst from the warehouse in complete panic.
"...?"
One nearly tripped over him. Their eyes met. The criminal's face drained of all colour.
"...I'm sorry."
"...What?"
The villain bowed, actually bowed, then proceeded to flee, only to be apprehended by a ready and waiting Kamui Woods.
"...Huh?" Izuku watched, completely baffled.
Kamui Woods landed right next to him.
"Midoriya."
"Oh! Hello."
"You okay?"
"I think so?"
"You weren't attacked?"
"Not today."
"Good."
Kamui nodded, relieved.
"...See you tomorrow."
"...Probably."
Neither of them questioned that answer.
Standing atop a nearby rooftop with one hand tucked into his pocket, Todoroki Shoto watched the entire exchange in silence.
He had graduated from UA a year ago. Now he was one of Japan's youngest rising Pro Heroes.
His sidekick looked over.
"Should we head back?"
Shoto didn't answer immediately. Instead, he watched the green haired civilian help the police pick up scattered evidence bags because someone had knocked them over while fleeing. The quiet civilian smiled sheepishly after getting ash on his sweater. There was something inexplicably gentle about him.
"..."
Shoto looked away first.
"...Let's go."
His sidekick frowned.
"You're staring."
"I wasn't."
"You absolutely were."
"..."
"..."
"...He had ash on his face."
"...So you noticed."
Shoto said nothing.
Far below, oblivious to the hero who was watching him from the rooftops, Midoriya Izuku continued walking home.
Somewhere in the city, another villain checked a map.
"...Wait."
"What is it?" his collegue asked.
"...Is that... Midoriya Izuku's neighbourhood?"
The two stared before reaching a unanimous agreement. The villain quietly folded up his plans.
"...Let's rob somewhere else."